France have the chance to go back to back for the second time in World Cup history as they beat a determined Morocco side 2-0 with a goal in each half. France will meet Argentina for their chance at glory.
Semi Final France v Morocco Match Review
Minutes that Mattered
Welcome to the briefest of match summaries, like a minute by minute you find on professional websites except one that has only the minutes that matter. All wheat, no chaff.
And if the below isn’t enough, for those in Australia you can catch up via the SBS World Cup on Demand.
2′ Min Decent atmosphere for this game, but we’ll be hoping for France is have much less than 50% possession based on the aggressive whistling every time France get the ball. It sounds like the loudest Sheep Dog Trial in the World, but we guess they are playing for Sheep Stations.
5′ Min GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL FOR FRANCE
Well, bloody hell that didn’t take long. A great through ball from Varane to Griezmann sees the latter in space down the right and he speeds towards the box, squares inside for Mbappe who shoots but the shot is blocked, but only as far as Theo Hernandez who does well getting the high ball down into the net and past a keeper who is only conceding his second goal for the tournament.
FRANCE 1 MOROCCO 0
OK, so Morocco might have to play more football from here, but France are yet to go through a game without conceding, and France aren’t known as the greatest fighters in history.
10′ Min Shot on Target for Morocco as Azzedine Ounahi launches a curling effort from outside the box with requires Lloris to get a hand on it quickly.
15′ Min Free Kick to Morocco is taken, and there’s no trouble to France or the scorers, but at least there’s relief from the whistling. Morocco counter attack a minute later for the same result of scoring and whistling.
17′ Min Olivier Giroud hits the post. Giroud makes light work of Saiss, who doesn’t appear 100% fit. Morocco appears to be getting ready to make the chance straight away.
25′ Min First yellow card of the match to Sofiane Boufal who clashes legs with Theo Hernandez. Looks 50-50 if we’re honest, but Hernandez’s acting was slightly worse than Home & Away (awful soap on Australian TV), so must be the reason he got the free kick and avoided the yellow card. Of course Sofiane Boufal had no chance of Home & Away acting, as Summer Bay is the least culturally diverse place in the southern hemisphere.
31′ Min Morocco don’t appear to like Theo Hernandez as his foot is stomped on a few minutes later. Funny though, his France teammates don’t seem to offer much support.
33′ Min Corner for France gives us chance to talk actual football, although the lofted chance from Fofana wasn’t worth interrupting whatever else we were doing.
35′ Min Chance for France. Aside from rhyming it is also accurate. Kylian Mbappe attacks into the box on the left but his shot is blocked at the near post, and the ball lands nicely for Giroud who misses with his shot.
43′ Min Big chance for Morocco, who appear to be trying to equalise. From a corner there’s a bit of a scramble in the penalty area, the ball then falls or bounces to Jawad El Yamiq who produces an audacious overhead kick that goes very close, beating Lloris but not the post.
Half time, and a decent half of football. France’s goal probably forcing Morocco to play a little more than they would have. But there’s goals to come in the second half, and we’re predicting not for one side either.
HALF TIME – FRANCE 1 MOROCCO 0
46′ Min Good attack down the left for France with Mbappe speeding away. However his cross left a lot to be desired as did the follow up shot by a French player whose shot doesn’t deserve a rewind of the coverage to find out who they were.
50′ Min Some great end to end football here as Morocco attack up their end, then France break with Mbappe who appears to be hacked down, but no time for that as the ball speeds back up to the Moroccan end again. No foul on Mbappe despite it looking a little bit nasty.
53′ Min So close for Morocco. A ball goes into the box and Youssef En-Nesyri is waiting for the tap in, but a French defender intercepts. En-Nesyri has another chance from a cross too but can’t quite get the contact on it. Morocco are going to steal a goal here.
56′ Min More pressure from Morocco with the underdogs or underlions maybe, getting balls into the box and the French defence getting more desperate. Not forgetting, France have conceded in every game, what excitement if they score.
70′ Min After some half chances for either side, France now have a free kick in the edge of the penalty box with Griezmann standing over it. The headed attempt goes wide for France.
78′ Min Substitution time for both sides, which is solid time wasting for France and a last chance to conjure up some magic for Morocco.
79′ Min GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL FOR FRANCE
France take advantage of a loose ball in centre field, and the ball eventually finds it way to Kylian Mbappe, who dances through some Moroccan defence in the penalty area, he then provides a deflected pass through to Randal Kolo Muani who scores after just coming on, and it doubles as his first goal for France. That’s probably game over, as it is hard to see Morocco scoring twice.
FRANCE 2 MOROCCO 0
83′ Min Free kick to Morocco in a dangerous enough place. Also a dangerous place is the huddle of players wrestling before the ball is delivered and the two players singled out for a mouthful from the referee before the ball is kicked. As for the free kick itself, the score remains 2-0 to France.
90′ Min Six minutes of added time to come. Not enough for two goals from Morocco given they have yet to score in 15 times that amount available.
90′ +3 Min Morocco are still having a go though. One shot requires a save, and from the corner another half chance.
90′ +4 Min And somehow Morocco don’t score. The ball is just cleared off the line by Kounde. If that had of gone in, boy the last minutes would have been exciting.
The journey is over for Morocco who pushed France all the way in an awesome effort. France get through but never had it easy.
Final Score
FRANCE 2
Theo Hernandez 5′ Randal Kolo Muani 79′
MOROCCO 0
HT France 1-0
Player of the Match
Kylian Mbappe
Semi Final France v Morocco Match Stats
Coming soon.
Semi Final France v Morocco Starting Teams
FRANCE (4-2-3-1)
1 Lloris
5 Koundé
4 Varane
24 Konaté
22 Hernández
8 Tchouaméni
13 Fofana
11 Dembélé
7 Griezmann
10 Mbappé
9 Giroud
MOROCCO (5-4-1) or (TRAIN-BUS-TOKEN ATTACKER)
1 Bono
2 Hakimi
18 El Yamiq
20 Dari
6 Saïss
3 Mazraoui
7 Ziyech
8 Ounahi
4 S Amrabat
17 Boufal
19 En-Nesyri
